Yemen's Democracy Gives U.S. the Jitters

Published: July 10, 1993

To the Editor:

The first true multiparty democracy in Middle Eastern history has emerged in the mountain country of Yemen, despite the best efforts of the United States to abort it. With almost no natural resource base, Yemen has until recently sustained a growth rate rivaling that of the "dragons" of east Asia, more than 6 percent a year from 1970 to 1988.

But in the last two years, as a consequence of the Persian Gulf war, Yemen's economy has collapsed. Saudi Arabia, our strategic ally, has made beggaring Yemen a prime foreign policy objective. To this end, and with tacit United States acceptance, Saudi Arabia has forcibly ejected from its soil almost a million Yemenites, most of whom were forced to leave prosperous businesses and properties behind. The Saudis have also funneled money and aid to a fifth column of religious fundamentalists.

As a consequence, more than one-third of the population of Yemen is unemployed, and many are in refugee camps. The Yemeni currency, the riyal, has lost 75 percent of its international value. The economy has been devastated.

The last few years have seen droughts equal to those in Somalia and Ethiopia. Yemen has been visited by a plague of locusts that are destroying crops throughout the land.

Yet starvation has been staved off, and Yemen's refugees have been fed by their own people. The United States, while pumping streams of money or missiles to the region, has avoided offending our petrol partners by acknowledging this little democracy. As a transplanted Yemenite, I ache with pride. But as a first-generation American, I burn with shame. ABDULKADER K. SALEH Weston, Conn., July 2, 1993